Raised in a fishing village in Kerala, Mailil emigrated with his family to the United States when he was ten. He attempted a career in Hollywood in the mid-1990s, finding some success but not stardom. In 2008, his life unraveled quickly. He stabbed his then-girlfriend Kendra Beebe twenty times with a kitchen knife, after he found her with another man. Her wounds were deep though not fatal, leaving the victim scarred and lucky to be alive. But the crime was not in the "heat of the moment", as Mailil had brought the knife from his house. Sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole.